The Accidental Film Franchise

This weekend, the third installments of the summer’s most anticipated trilogies will go head to head: the guys-gone-wild extravaganza “The Hangover Part III,” the highest grossing R-rated comedy franchise of all time, and the indie romance “Before Midnight,” perhaps the lowest-grossing (but critically beloved) franchise in cinematic history.

The “Before” series, which director Richard Linklater calls his “accidental trilogy,” has become over the past 19 years a longitudinal study of relationships: the films bring together actors Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke as Jesse and Celine, the young lovers who met on a train in “Before Sunrise,” and rekindled their romance in Paris nine years later in “Before Sunset.” In the latest installment, the couple—married now, and with kids—is on holiday in Greece, struggling to keep their flame alive as once-charming quirks start to grate on each other’s nerves.

At a Greek restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, Linklater talked with Speakeasy about the challenges of long-term relationships, shooting long scenes, and the pressures that come with releasing an indie trilogy: